Valeant Pharmaceuticals Is Under S.E.C. Investigation

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International said on Monday that it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the latest turn of events for the Canadian drug maker, which has come under recent scrutiny for its sky-high drug prices and a once-secret relationship with a mail-order pharmacy.

The news, reported earlier by Bloomberg, capped a tumultuous 24 hours in which the company canceled its 2016 financial guidance, delayed its fourth-quarter earnings report and announced that its chief executive, J. Michael Pearson, who had been on a medical leave, was returning. Valeant’s stock fell more than 18 percent Monday, to $65.78.

A spokeswoman for Valeant said that it had received a subpoena from the S.E.C. in the fourth quarter of last year and that it normally would have reported this detail in its financial disclosure. She declined to provide further details about what the investigation entailed.

Valeant has been the focus of intense criticism for its practice of buying old drugs and then raising their prices. It also used a mail-order pharmacy, Philidor, to help it get around efforts of pharmacies and insurance companies to substitute cheaper generic alternatives for some of the company’s high-priced products. Federal prosecutors and Congress have been looking into some of the company’s drug pricing practices.

Valeant’s policy of acquiring old drugs and raising their prices once drove its stock to new heights, attracting investors like William A. Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management and the Sequoia Fund. But this fall, it lost two-thirds of its value as some investors began questioning its accounting practices and its ability to pay off more than $30 billion in debt.

Mr. Pearson, 56, was rushed to the hospital on Dec. 24, suffering from what the company later described as severe pneumonia. Mr. Pearson said in a letter to employees in late January that some “unexpected complications resulted in a longer hospital stay than anticipated.”

The company is facing other obstacles: Two of the largest pharmacy-benefit managers, CVS Caremark and Express Scripts, have recently said they will limit their coverage of Jublia, the company’s costly drug to treat toenail fungus. And on Sunday it announced that its top-selling drug, the gastrointestinal treatment Xifaxan, is facing a generic challenge from Allergan. That company will have to overcome numerous patents Valeant says protect Xifaxan, and some analysts said they did not see an immediate threat.

Still, one analyst, David Maris of Wells Fargo, said the challenge should have been disclosed sooner, given that Valeant learned of it on Feb. 11.

In a note to investors Monday, Mr. Maris, who has rated the stock “underperform,” said the company’s future was unclear. “Valeant’s withdrawing guidance should be an indication to investors just how uncertain and changing Valeant’s business is,” he said in the note.

Irina R. Koffler, an analyst for Mizuho Securities USA, said investors had grown used to bad news coming from Valeant. “I think investors know that there could be investigations and bad press, they’re aware of that,” she said. “The C.E.O. that everyone loved at first has already left the company and now came back.”

However, several unknowns remain, she said, including whether the business will be able to grow and eventually pay off its debt. “That’s what people worry about,” she said. She also noted that the company must file its fourth-quarter earnings by March 15 or face other consequences, such as potential removal from the New York Stock Exchange, which she acknowledged was unlikely.

Given the head-spinning series of developments Monday — coupled with a lack of financial guidance for this year — Ms. Koffler, who rates the stock neutral, said investors should rethink the company’s previously optimistic statements and start over.

“Investors should just delete all comments from recent investor meetings and calls and brace themselves for an entirely new story,” she said in a note to investors on Monday.

Correction:

An article on Tuesday about a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of the drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International misidentified an investor in Valeant. It is Sequoia Fund, not Sequoia Capital.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: After Tumultuous Day for Valeant, Latest Blow Is an S.E.C. Investigation. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe